


Rise of the Pumpkins

by Glowstickia, OneThreateningAcronym



Series: Challenge of the Hallows Eve [1]
Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, paranatural halloween challenge 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-07
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-19 16:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8217386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowstickia/pseuds/Glowstickia, https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneThreateningAcronym/pseuds/OneThreateningAcronym
Summary: The air was crisp, the sky was clear... and there were pumpkins in the air?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Week 1 Prompt: The Great Pumpkin

Everywhere.

They were literally everywhere.

Max watched his step, lest he trip over  _ another _ gourd that just happily decided to roll in between his feet. He swore he’d heard laughter from the pumpkins after his previous spill. But that was impossible, right? Pumpkins didn’t have mouths to laugh with… then again, these weren’t “normal” pumpkins. Normal pumpkins didn’t dart under your feet like antsy cats. They also didn’t fly. Garcia had a whole class on  [ pumpkin chuckin ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmSyrGsqmg8) , the only way pumpkins would  _ ever _ fly.

Why couldn’t anything in Mayview just be normal?

A tiny, bright pink pumpkin with a neon yellow vine floated lazily over his head. It definitely wasn’t the weirdest thing he’d seen today. Or even this month. Max figured the pumpkins would be the biggest surprise of the day… he was mostly right. 

“Max! Hurry up, we don’t have all day!” Isabel’s voice rang out across a sea of multi-colored pumpkins. Max looked up. Isabel stood, arms crossed impatiently, a few yards ahead. Beside her, Ed was being mauled by several tiny pumpkin spirits. All Max could see of Ed were the soles of his shoes. Death by pumpkins… Max was half certain it was either a band name or a single by  _ Necromantid _ . It was a good thing nobody else was at the lake this early, or else they might have to explain Ed. And no one knew how to explain Ed. Max sighed and kept moving. His eyes stayed glued to his feet as he stumbled through the overnight pumpkin patch. Luckily, the chilly October breeze blowing across the water kept the saner residents of Mayview at bay (hah) and provided them with enough privacy… for… 

“Remind me why you dragged me out here again?” Max asked.

“Because you asked about the pumpkins, duh,” Isabel said with an eye roll. Max could feel her eyes watching him as he tried to not trip over the spirits littering the ground. He stepped over and around the spectral flora like the worst obstacle course in existence.

“Yeah, and you never answered if they were hostile or not.”

Isabel scoffed. “Pft, these lil guys are harmless.”

Max thumbed towards Ed, who was still under the growing mound of colorful pumpkins emitting a rainbow of spectral energy. “I’m sure Ed begs to differ.” Isabel and Max stared at the pile as another pumpkin the size of Mr. Spender’s head fell on top of the pile. Maybe the pumpkins were playing King of the Ed?

Isabel’s gaze shifted back to Max. She shrugged. “He’s fine,” she spun on her heels towards the lake. Her pigtail nearly smacked Max in the face. “The pumpkins land in Mayview every year for October. And after the 31st, they’re gone.”

“How do they get through the barrier?” Max asked.

“They’re all tools,” Isabel’s brow furrowed. Her hand rested on her chin. “Or at least I think they are? Probably?”

The tower of pumpkins came crashing down beside them. Ed cackled, fists held victoriously to the sky. “FREEDOM!” 

“You  _ THINK _ ?” Max asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at Isabel. Ed clambered to his feet, shaking off dirt and pumpkin seeds. He wiped the excess dirt on Max’s hoodie. Max glared at him.

Isabel spun back around, smacking both Ed and Max with her pigtails. “I mean, Spender never really  _ explained _ it all. All we really know is they come here every year, then they leave, and they’re harmless.”

“That’s totally not weird or ominous at all,” Max snarked as he glanced warily at the fallen pumpkin hoard. He took a careful sidestep away from them. The pumpkins quivered and rolled an inch towards him. “And you’re  **sure** these things are harmless?”

Isabel groaned. “ _ Yes, Max _ , they’re harmless.”

Ed patted the volleyball sized pumpkin he had taken hostage. It trembled under his armpit. “And armless,” Ed chirped in a wise tone as he adjusted his glasses for added scholarly effect. The pink pumpkin attempted to wiggle free, but without arms to pry Ed’s arm off of it, it was a fruitless effort. Max almost felt sorry for it. Almost.

“So,” Max shoved his freezing hands into his jacket’s pockets, “how big do these things get?”

The way Isabel craned her head and grinned at him made Max instantly regret asking. “Oh, you’ll see~” she assured him. Her positively cheerful tone  _ somehow _ failed to make Max feel any better.

Knowing full well what she’d accomplished, Isabel turned forward once more and marched onwards towards their destination. Ed followed suit, with the spirit pumpkin still attempting to break free of  Ed’s pumpkin chokehold. Though as far as Max was aware, neither spirits nor pumpkins needed to breath. Did they even have necks that could be choked?

“Don’t think too hard about it,” Ed encouraged him, blissfully unaware of the tiny pumpkin’s struggles. His glasses glinted in the morning sun, ominous and blinding. “Besides, we’re almost there!”

Max, reluctantly, followed Isabel and Ed deeper into the pumpkin patch. He paid extra attention to where he could place his feet, careful to not accidentally step on one of the gourds. Last thing he wanted was to be attacked by an army of magical spirit pumpkins. 

Next time, Max was just going to pretend he knew why the entire town of Mayview and the two hills it sat between was buried in pumpkins.

He’d initially mistaken it for a void of shadow in the surrounding woods. But as Isabel led them forward, Max realized very quickly that the vegetation staring him in the face was definitely  _ not _ the oaks and pines towering above their heads.  **No** . The black whisps swirling against the deep blue sky were too ominous to be trees and honestly, should have been his first hint. His second hint was Ed, becoming twitchier the closer they stepped towards the lake.

“That’s a pumpkin,” Max said flatly.

And indeed it was. Black as his spectral energy it floated serenely in the center of the water before them. A bright purple stem jutted from the top of the pumpkin, just shy of the peaks of the surrounding trees, and its vines brushed the shore. A couple of its leaves dipped into the clear water, disturbing some aquatic spirits. The large, two headed prehistoric spirit Max had spotted several times while passing the lake was nowhere to be seen...

Ed swept his arms dramatically across the landscape before them. “It’s  **THE GREAT PUMPKIN!** ” Ed exclaimed as the captive pumpkin spirit dropped to the ground with a hollow thud. The small gourd stared in awe and shed a tear. Max swore it was crying pumpkin seeds. “Isn’t it majestic?”

“Um,” Max began eloquently, “well, I can certainly say that I’m speechless.”

Isabel placed her hands on her sides. She looked oddly proud. “We’ve come here every year to check on the spirits. Sometimes the pumpkins create some... discourse.”

Ed jumped. “Last year we had to defend the pumpkin from a nasty grudge. It took my left sock!”

Max stared at Ed befuddled. “What about your shoe?”

“My right shoe got turned to goo! And the left one tooled.”   
  
Isabel laughed. “And it wasn’t even the grudge that tooled up!”

Ed nodded, then stared solemnly off in the distance at nothing. “To this day we don’t know where the grudge went.”

Max opened and closed his mouth. “A grudge, is still on the loose?” Ed shrugged. On the ground, the tiny spirit pumpkin mimicked an armless shrug. Max did not know where to begin. “And you just let it go!?”   
  
“You gotta pick your battles, Max.” Isabel advised, striking a dramatic thinking pose that looked suspiciously familiar. “Don’t make mountains out of spilled milk and all that.”   
  
Max stared at her. He threw his hands in the air. “Yes. That is exactly how that idiom goes. Exactly.”

Isabel threw an arm over Max’s shoulder. “Look, Max, you gotta relax. Not all spirits actively attack or attempt to devour ghosts or other spirits. The pumpkins have been coming to Mayview for years now. Like, longer than Mr. Spender’s been alive. They’ll be gone by the end of the month.” Ed picked up a pumpkin spirit behind them and grinned. Isabel poked Max in the shoulder with her other hand. “Which means, you’ve only got 30 days to defeat the Great Pumpkin and become the Pumpkin King.”

Max looked at the large, ominous gourd and it’s black spectral energy. He looked back to Isabel’s smug, smiling face. “You know, as  _ tempting _ as that is, I don’t think I’m cut out to be pumpkin royalty.”

Always one to defy his expectations, Isabel’s smile somehow turned all the more unsettling. She punched him hard in the shoulder, hard enough to make him wince. “Don’t be stupid, Max,” she tutted, disapproval clear in her tone. She pulled him close, squishing her cheek uncomfortably close against his face. He felt her lips tighten. Uneasy anticipation churned together in his stomach with the TartPops™ he’d had for breakfast this morning. “Pumpkin Kings aren’t  **cut** , they’re CARVED!”

Ed cleared his throat, loudly and pointedy. Max and Isabel turned their attention to him. A toothy grin spread across his face. He was clearly glad to have their attention. “And in order to prepare for your inevitable battle of the Great Pumpkin...” He held up the dark white pumpkin he had picked up from somewhere and threw it at Max’s face. “SPIRIT PUMPKIN FIIIIIIIGHT!!!”

Max and Isabel ducked and shoved the other away. Max grabbed the first light black pumpkin he rolled into. A large, blood orange pumpkin whizzed past his head not two seconds later, courtesy of Isabel. Her aim was  _ scary _ … Max darted behind a neon green pumpkin the size of a small boulder. It was a good looking pumpkin.

Oh. 

Wait.

That was Ed.

The two boys look at each other in mutual confusion. “Dude, what-” Ed wasn’t even able to finish his sentence before Isabel hit him square in the chest with a periwinkle pumpkin the size of a small baby. Ed dropped to his knees, grasping at his ribs where he’d been hit before finally keeling over. The small, pink pumpkin that had been so important to their journey thus far rolled over. It looked as if it wanted to throw its arms up in despair. 

Ed coughed, loudly and dramatically, and reached his hand towards Max. “I’m…. fading….” he gasped. Max rolled his eyes. Ed clutched at his heart and wiggled on the ground in his death throes. “Avenge meeeeeeeeeee………………………………….”

Max dropped a pumpkin on Ed’s head instead. “Ow.”

The Great Pumpkin loomed over the children. Silent as a statue, it watched them as they played, judging. Well, possibly judging. It was hard to gauge the intent of a faceless gourdian. But nonetheless, it watched as Max attempted to parkour across one of its kin. Watched as Isabel laughed at his failure. Watched as Ed broke his fall and the two tumbled into a pile of rainbow pumpkins.

All was peaceful during the first October morning in Mayview.

Everything was  _ great _ . But how long would it last?

**Author's Note:**

> BONUS
> 
> Ed: “I guess I’m just too tough to cry.”
> 
> Isabel: “Just yesterday you were crying over pumpkins.”
> 
> Ed, visibly tearing up: “THEY DON’T HAVE ANY ARMS!”


End file.
